Dissonant Plane

TONIGHT!!!
FREE IN STORE PERFORMANCE
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2009
7:00 PM
MOOD ORGAN
COLIN ANDREW SHEFFIELD
from this week’s issue of The Stranger:The Score
Rejections and Emerald City Debacles
by Christopher Delaurenti
I still feel guilty for peering over his shoulder, but I had to look. Musicians usually launch their work into the world from onstage, yet here he was, doing one of the bravest things any artist can do: waiting in line at the post office to mail a stack of demo discs to various labels.
It’s an anonymous act that compels musicians to wonder at the fate of their work. Someone either says yes and agrees to champion the music, or the uncertain, uneasy void—few labels take the time or have the courtesy to send rejection letters anymore—continues and maybe grows.
Peering over Timm Mason’s shoulder, I espied his moniker, Mood Organ, affixed to packages bound for labels famous and unknown. Every artist gets rejected; by the time we find them, the ones we know and love have been ignored, rebuffed, and rejected countless times. Yet Mason seemed calm, as if mailing Christmas cards. The pensive, gloaming tones of the disc, Visiting a Burning Museum (Debacle), reflect this confidence. Mason inscribes his music with poetic details that reward headphone listening: lonesome guitar, rustles of wind, swelling tones, and keyboards that sound like they’re underwater, blurred by shivering eddies and ripples.
Mood Organ celebrates the release of the excellent Burning with an in-store show (Fri Aug 28, Dissonant Plane, 5459 Leary Ave NW, 784-5163, 7 pm, free). Previous performances have ranged from a set on solo electric bass to pieces for prepared piano and harmonium; expect an approach that explores a continuum from the visibly instrumental to abstract, unseen sound.
Another local sound artist, Colin Andrew Sheffield, shares the bill. Sheffield performs too infrequently; but when he does (full disclosure: I’ve only had three short conversations with him, but I opened for his duo performance with James Eck Rippie in 2007), he hews glacial, heaving drones from a turntable and an old-school sampler. Released earlier this year, Sheffield’s gorgeous Signatures (Invisible Birds) processes bird recordings, freezing skyward shrieks and swooping wings, into drones that refract hidden, shimmering harmonies.
Burning is another installment in “The Emerald City Debacle Vol. II,” an ongoing series by Debacle Records devoted to documenting local experimental music. From scabrous electronics such as on the eponymous Summon Thrull to charmingly perverted plunderphonics, most notably Fuck Rockin’ in American Airspace by the Broken Penis Orchestra, this series testifies to a gradual revival of the avant scene in Seattle. Be warned that Emerald City Debacle follows the current (and probably permanent) trend of avant CDs toward limited-run (usually 100 or less) discs that can get hard to find quickly. If you want it, get it. My list of discs I’ve missed gets frustratingly longer every week!
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-score/Content?oid=2120557

• Ash Castles on the Ghost Coast CD  (Fleece Records / Wholly Other)  USED  $8  - Heather Murray (ex-Charalambides) & Shawn McMillen
• Bishop, Richard  ”God Damn Religion”  DVD + CD  (Locust Music)  USED  $12  - CD & DVD set, no guitar here, just dark experimental
• Cage, John  ”Variations IV”  CD  (Legacy International)  USED  $6  - fantastic sound collages, reissue of 2 LPs from 1965
• Cluster  ”71″  CD  (Water)  USED  $9  - early dark & cosmic electronics from Germany
• Cluster  ”II”  CD  (Spalax)  USED  $9  - really good!  like good spacey TG, but years earlier
• Crass  ”Christ the Album”  2 x CD  (Crass Records)  USED  $9  - 1982 album of anarcho-peace punk
• Culver C90  ((oTo))  USED  $2  - droney noises, 1 side only, C90,  ltd 50
• Doc Wör Mirran  ”Power of Positive Obscurity, The”  C60  (Old Europa Cafe)  USED  $2  - spacey lo-fi creations from Germany on Italian label C60
• Faust with Conrad, Tony  ”Live:  London - Queen Elisabeth Hall - February 1995″  C60  (Klangbad)  USED  $2  - live concert recording released by the band, C60
• Fennesz  ”Fennesz Plays”  CD EP  (Moikai)  USED  $4  - instrumental electronic glitch covers of Stones, 7 mins
• German Oak CD  (Radioactive)  USED  $9  - obscure Krautrock instrumentals from 1972
• Godz  ”Contact High”  CD  (ESP Disc / XYZ Music)  USED  $9  - drop out folk weirdness from 1966
• Harvester  ”Hemat”  CD  USED  $9  - great trance psychedelic rock w/folk touches from 1969
• Jackie-O Motherfucker  ”Europe 2002″  2 x CD  (Cast Exotic Archives)  USED  $12  - out of sight collective weirdness
• Kawabata Makoto  ”You Are The Moonshine”  CD  (Mar/Ino / Elsie & Jack Recordings)  USED  $15  - beautiful ambient sounds, ltd 150, long out of print
• Knaack, Donald  ”Dance Music”  CD  (RRRecords)  $8  - contemplative & creative experimental
• Kubli, Thom  ”Mondok Spots”  CD  (BMB Lab)  USED  $7  - very beautiful subtle drones like Rafael Toral, ltd 300
• L’infonie  ”Volume 333″  2 x CD  (Mucho Gusto)  USED  $12  - bizarre jazz, rock, experimental, classical mixture
• Lacy, Steve  ”Saxophone Special +”  CD  (Emanem)  USED  $9  - very free playing with some of the greats of the day
• Limbus 4  ”Mandalas”  CD  (Spalax)  USED  $9  - one of the greats of early free music w/ acoustic instrs.
• Lost in Translation  ”Wednesday Tapes, The”  C90  (Black Velvet Fuckere Recordings)  USED  $2  - old school cosmic electronics, C90
• Malanga, Gerard  ”Up From The Archives”  CD  (Sub Rosa)  USED  $8  - from the archives of this Warhol collaborator
• McLean Mix, The  ”Golden Age of Electronic Music, The”  CD  (CRI)  USED  $10  - great early analog electronics, out of print
• Miller, Donald  ”A Little Treatise on Morals”  CD  (Audible Hiss)  USED  $8  - solo pieces from Borbetomagus guitarist from 1982
• MNortham  ”Breathing Towers”  CD EP  (Dorobo)  USED  $8  - ltd 400, OOP, 22 minutes, lovely drone
• Moondog and his Friends CD  (Moondog’s Corner)  USED  $8  - reissue of 1953 material using tape overdubbing
• Möslang, Norbert / Guhl, Andy  ”Deep Voices”  CD  (Urthona)  USED  $9  - 1978 FMP debut of the duo that became Voice Crack
• Musica Elettronica Viva  ”The Sound Pool”  CD  (Spalax)  USED  $9  - 1969 large ensemble free for all, originally LP on BYG
• Nath, Pandit Pran  ”Raga Cycle”  CD  (Sri Moonshine)  USED  $9  - contemplative Indian classical w/La Monte Young
• Of  ”Rocks Will Open”  CD  (Digitalis)  USED  $8  - delicate acoustic sounds, Thuja member, ltd 500
• Oliveros, Pauline  ”Primordial Lift”  CD  (Table of the Elements)  USED  $9  - with guests Tony Conrad and David Grubbs
• Romero, Damion  ”Feedback in a Lover’s Telegraph”  CD  (Harbinger Sound)  USED  $7  - gentle and warm self-sustaining feedback drone
• Screamin’ Mee-Mees & Hot Scott Fischer  ”You’re Now In Our World: Warp Sessions ‘72″  CDR  (Slippy Town)  USED  $6  - lo-fi primitive “Godz meets Amon Düül”, CDR, ltd 125
• Smegma  ”Ism”  CD  (Tim/Kerr Records)  USED  $10  - long out of print 1993 album by these Portland weirdos
• Speare, Jed  ”Sound Works 1982-1987″  2 x CD  (Family Vineyard)  USED  $12  - great unreleased musique concrete from the 1980’s
• Throbbing Gristle  ”Live Volume 1, 1976-1978″  CD  (Mute Records / The Grey Area)  USED  $12  - out of print, early murky Industrial sounds, vellum cover
• Ya Ho Wha 13  ”Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony”  CD  (Cold Sweat)  USED  $9  - reissue of 1974 LP, acid-mantra psychedelic death trip

FREE IN STORE PERFORMANCEFRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2009

7:00 PM

MOOD ORGAN

COLIN ANDREW SHEFFIELD

Mood Organ is the solo project of Seattle-based musician Timm Mason. Timm is best known as the bass player for diverse acts including funk juggernaut Eldridge Gravy & the Court Supreme, psych-rock supergroup Midday Veil, and instrumental hip-hop cover band Hamburger Pimp. Mood Organ is a platform for exploring different modes of listening and intersections between musical (& non-musical) genres. Each Mood Organ performance is unique; recent performances have included a solo performance on electric bass, a duet between saxophone and amplified objects, and a solo composition for harmonium and prepared piano. The first full-length album “Visiting a Burning Museum” has just been released on Debacle Records. Begun over 9 years ago, it is a meditation on memory and abstraction. The album folds instrumental performances, treated field recordings, and evolving drones into a towering block of sound that evokes power and sadness all at once. for fans of Drone, Charlambides, Gregg Kowalsky, Greg Davis.

http://www.myspace.com/moodorgan

Colin Andrew Sheffield was born in El Paso in 1976 and lived in various cities in Texas prior to 2004, when he relocated to the Seattle area. He is a self-taught drummer, playing in various collaborative situations in his home state before eventually making a total transition to electronic music. After initially working with exclusively digital sources, in recent years, Sheffield has refined his approach and now focuses on the strict re-contextualization of other commercially available recordings. His aim is to distill the essential qualities of these works and to then utilize that essence for new recordings. Usually only very brief sections of the original works are selected. These raw components are then contracted, expanded, layered, and/or otherwise processed until something new is forged. The resultant music is an atmospheric soundscape, gradually shifting and unfolding, offering subtle nuance and quiet restraint. His recordings often seem to have much in common with ambient electronic music, though are equally akin to “plunderphonic” audio collage. In 1998 Sheffield founded the Elevator Bath Recording label which has continually issued experimental works from a variety of artists from the United States and abroad. Sheffield has released a number of solo recordings since 1998, including 2005’s ‘First Thus,’ his debut long-player. His collaboration with turntablist James Eck Rippie is ongoing. 2009 will saw the release of Sheffield’s sophomore full-length solo release, ‘Signatures,’ via the Invisible Birds label.

http://www.myspace.com/colinandrewsheffield

Hjarnidaudi’s “Pain:Noise:March” is some sick shit if you’re into lo-fi, dark, depressive Doom (with the occasional appearance of what seems to be a Kaoss Pad). This is a mixture of Industrial and Funeral at it’s finest. Made of ex Hildolf and Koldbrann member Vidar Ermesjø with a little Shining, it combines the crushing sound of old Swans or Skullflower, with the haunting weirdness of Leviathan/Lurker of Chalice, along with the friendly (and fiendy) fun loving lo-fi sound of my old Ov Salthl stuff. Which is really weird. I’m not one to toot my own horn but it’s really bizarre. I just think that the sound of the quality is similar to my old stuff. Although I always found that sound to be utter crap, this band (believe it of not) managed to make it work. Those Norwegians have a special way with that kind of stuff (i.e. MoHa!)…This is Tanith, signing out.

Dissonant Plane will be open late for the Ballard Art Walk on Saturday August 8th.  To celebrate, Sparkle Girl (Jim) will be making fun noises to mix with the sounds of the space.  Jim is moving away in less than two weeks, so this might be one of your last chances to catch him for a good while!

Starting now I will be making occasional recommendations for certain items in the store that I really like. Kind of like a staff pick and also like our other blog entries that describe recent items, only now we will be covering a lot more metal. This is something that I might do daily, weekly, every other day, whatever. It depends on what is on my mind.First I would like to tell you about an incredible band that is way too underrated. Psyopus, although they are signed to a major metal label don’t gather fans like other bands as they are far less accessible to the common and untrained ear. This greatly misunderstood monster hails from Rochester New York with Guitar extraordinaire Christopher “Arpmandude” Arp as the ongoing mastermind behind the compositions. Their sound is a brutal, blasting yet versatile form of tech grind that uses lots of time/tempo changes, fearless use of atonal chords, and unorthodox instrument techniques. Some reviewers complain the music is too tasteless, and over the top. Although I don’t really agree with the first comment at all I will admit that it’s over the top, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. This music is to be approached with intentions other than looking for something to dance/mosh/get stoned to. It’s almost impossible to compare them with anything familiar, but I would have to say that it is a precise blend of Primus with Buckethead, playing Schoenberg compositions while layering that with Psychedelic, Avant Garde movie soundtrack sequenced Synthesizers translated and arranged for a band similar to Origin (with occasional appearances by Sun City Girls). As crazy and as smoke-blown-up-the-ass as that sounds I get the impression that these guys are actually quite modest and well educated people that really like having fun with their music and like to play with the listeners. For instance, on their album “Our Puzzling Encounters Considered” is a song titled “Siobhanis Song” where there are 24 guitar tracks with one for each note used during a certain part of the song to give the impression that the notes are falling from all over the place. Another great example of this is the “Imogen’s Puzzle” Trilogy. One track on each of the three albums and the first and third parts are meant to played simultaneously. “Imogen’s Puzzle pt.3″ is essentially part one played backwards then reversed. I haven’t tried this out for myself but I can imagine that it is quite a freakfest. Other than the intentional musical challenges that they put themselves through their lyrics cover a wide range of odd ideas and issues ranging from insects and siamese twins, to sex changes and snuf films. In conclusion I would really advise that you pick this up. I wanted to expose this band to an audience different than the common metal fanatics that they are marketed to. I felt that if listened to the right way that this could be something that music appreciators that lurk in all sections of Dissonant Plane could find to appreciate if they gave it the chance and well studied listen that it deserves.Psyopus on Myspace

Unrock is an alternative record store in Krefeld, Germany.  Like us they put on some in store shows, and to document this the label Unsound Recordings was founded.  Normally this releases are only available directly from Unrock, but we got a few copies of the most recent batch for Dissonant Plane.  We are probably the only place in the States that has these.  The three titles we got are limited edition CDRs in lovely screen printed Digipaks.  The first is by ME & EE with the Golden Road.  Six tracks of psychedelic blues where Matt and Erika are joined by Doc Dunn and Samara Lubelski.  Matt Valentine often reminds me of a very laid back Neil Young.  Ramping up from this is Sunburned Hand of the Man whose disc is one 39 minute Krautrock inspired jam of craziness with a quartet line up.  Both this and the MV & EE are hand numbered editions of only 150 copies.  The third title in the batch is by Temple of Bon Matin and comes in a tinier edition of only 50 copies.  And it is the most out there of the batch.  Usually a very large group, the Temple was only a trio at this gig.  Made of Ed Wilcox (vocals), Eric Baylies (bass) and Jay Reeve (electronics), they let loose some crazy free music which bears a passing resemblance to rock, but goes further out and doesn’t have any drums to fall back on.

Chicago based duo Locrian combine elements of noise, psychedelia, noise and drone.  We first heard it here on their CD “Drenched Lands“.  This fine album has now been reissued on vinyl in a very limited edition of 200 copies with a bonus 3″ CDR.  It seems like a really small edition, especially as we almost missed out on this - it seemed to sell out in a very small window of time.  Anyhow, we landed a few copies and it is gorgeously packaged in a letterpress sleeve with a glossy insert and pressed on clear vinyl.  The CDR is exclusive to this edition and is a live recording from Phil von Zweck’s program on WLUW FM.  For that session they were joined by Andrew Sherer of Valnias and Mark Solotroff of Bloodyminded and Intrinsic Action.  Heavy and doomy stuff.  We also got some of the last copies of Locrian’s 7″ “Plague Journal“.  All white, cover and vinyl, the 33 RPM grooves contain some awesome psychedelic noise.  Blissful stuff.

Two very special items from Japan:

Akio Suzuki “Ki-date” DVD & book
A beautiful retrospective of this very special Japanse sound artist.  The 210 minute all region NTSC DVD features live performances on Akio’s instruments such as the Analapos and Suzuki Type Glass Harmonica, as well as exhibition views and field recordings.  The performances are sublime as Suzuki lets loose delicate and magical sounds from his instruments and plays with small objects.  Also in the box is a 190 color catalog with texts in Japanese and English (translations by Alan Cummings) documenting 40 years of sound creation with many lovely photographs.  Also included in this set is a map of the location that Suzuki marked for ‘Oto-Date’.   This on going projects marks good listening spots in urban areas with Suzuki’s whimsical icon combining feet and ears.  This map shows the locations around the museum that Akio liked and the DVD documents these spots.  In a stroke of genius the video faces the opposite direction of any action so that sounds are heard, but the visuals are mostly stationary, yet impart the sense of the place.  The performance recordings on the DVD, these sounds are also recorded by Kuwayama Kijima of Lethe.  Documents of Suzuki’s work are always hard to find and therefore in demand, so don’t miss your chance to pick up this set!

Lethe “Catastrophe Point #6″ CD
Privately released limited edition CD from 2005 packaged on an A4 (about letter size) cardboard sleeve with beautiful artwork by Isao Mizutani.
Nagoya based Kiyoharu Kuwayama has an interest in reverberant spaces, recording under bridges and flyovers as well as in warehouse and Shinto temples at night. Although he occasionally employs cello, his works tends to explore space and perspective in utterly unconventional ways. Typically, he favours objects found in situ to sound the acoustic environment and is as likely to use a chair scraped along the floor as a standard musical instrument. But music this most definitely is. The first piece on offer here foregrounds what sounds like a handful of pebbles being clicked together against a distant backdrop of scraped sheet metal. The thickness of the room’s acoustics lends the whole an almost frightening clarity, and there’s an unreality to the way the two different reverberant layers combine that only adds to the sense of unease. We’re thrown into a subtly heightened acoustic realm, in which scale and perspective are altered, to disquieting psychological effect. The second piece heightens and complicates the acoustic picture even further, and increases the density of the sonic activity. The sound sources here seem to be bundles of sticks, bottles, tea trays and iron girders thrown down lift shafts. Once again the ear tries to make sense of the altered relationships Kuwayama set up between loud and soft, close and distant. Slowly, the piece starts to focus more and more strongly on a huge, dark vibration at the furthest end of the acoustic spectrum, which builds in intensity, racking up the tension and subtly disturbing the mind’s equilibrium. By this point, the music sounds like it’s taking piece in a vast, pitch black aircraft hangar of the soul. - Keith Moline (Wire No. 264)
Volcanic Tongue made comparisons with Christoph Heemann, Sean Meehan and AMM when describing this one.

Four new titles from Hospital Productions in for the first time:

Cold Cave “Cremations” CD - Old style minimal synth - simple melodies and rhythms with monotone vocals.  Cold and perverse atmosphere.  This collects tracks from the instantly out of print 7″, cassette and LP releases.

The Grey Wolves “Judgement” CD - Lo-fi, creepy, ritual industrial from the U.K. originally released on cassette sometime in the 1980’s.  The Grey Wolves were still associated with T.O.P.Y. at this early point in their history as can be seen on the logos from the original cover art reproduced here.  The Grey Wolves are better known for power electronics, so this is an unusual release for them and sounds more like Trev’s other project Nails ov Christ.

Malkuth “Sefirah Gevurah” CD - Underground, raw and rough black metal from New York.  This is their second album, the first one was vinyl only and sold out very fast.  Malkuth features members of Zashiki-Warashi, No Neck Blues Band, and K-Salvatore and sounds nothing like those bands.

Yellow Tears “Don’t Cry” 12″ - Dark and psychologically disturbing trio from New York.  The sounds of pain, fear and dread.

Also, back in stock:
Controlled Bleeding “Shanked and Slithering” CD - totally violent electronics/vocals/junk metal assault
Jason Crumer “Ottoman Black” CD - heavy noise and thick drones
Diapsiquir “Pacta Daemoniarum/Crasse” 2 x CD - reissue of two rare black metal French CDs from 1999 and 2001
Kevin Drumm “Imperial Distortion” 2 x CD - deep and minimal stark atmospheres
Carlos Giffoni / Prurient “Heavy Rain Returns” CD - deep throbbing analog power electronics noise